A. Gathering information is essential to writing news. Thus all newswriters must be experts in methods of research. Common information sources include books, magazines, newspapers, encyclopedias and dictionaries, almanacs and yearbooks, journals, government documents, electronic data bases, news releases and people. B. Surveys are used for many purposes by many people and organizations today. As reporters, you will be expected to write…

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History never actually repeats, but it does seem to repeat tendencies. Similarly, news stories never duplicate each other, but they do have a way of falling into definite categories. Analyzing them as we read them from day to day or listen to them as they came over the radio, we can easily discern elements of news interest which recur constantly.…

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The mass media contain advertising, entertainment opinion pieces and news. Most of your work in a media-writing course will involve producing news stories newsworthiness to an event or situation. But what kinds of events or situations exhibit these qualities? In other words, what topics make news? Research by the Gannett newspaper chain identified in priority order the following types of…

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Asked about objectives for a media-writing course, a student said: “I want to learn to write for the media.” The student apparently assumed that “the media” function as a unit. But references to the media as a singular thing misrepresent the way audiences actually use media. Different media are used differently. Your expectations for a radio story differ from what you expect…

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